[Coral-List] Coral disease? Which one?

Thu Jun 22 07:53:24 EDT 2006

Hi coral-listers,

  I would like to draw upon your collective knowledge on what I saw yesterday.

  I came across two Montipora (hispida?) colonies showing signs of die-off from apparent disease. The link below will take you to the series of photos I took (not very good ones, I'm afraid). 

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/cat64fish/sets/72157594173810429/

  I checked the web for what disease might be causing this die-off and it seems like some kind of "white" disease (White Plague was the closest I could determine).

  A few questions:

  1. How do we determine the exact nature of this die-off?
  2. If it is a "white" disease of some sort, how "contagious" is this disease to other coral colonies? 
  3. How worried should we be about this occurrance? Will be pandemic?
  4. Is there anything we can do to prevent its spread? Assuming worse case scenrio of a "pandemic".

  The water conditions at the site silty, with usual visibility of 2m (5m on good days). Depth was approx. 2m (at or near the reef crest). It had been raining a few days beforehand, so there was a lot of algae in the water as well (not normal for this time of the year, usually).

  Hope someone can help.

  Cheers, Jeff

Jim Hendee <Jim.Hendee at noaa.gov> wrote:
  Greetings!

The proposed Caribbean MPA Managers meeting, originally scheduled 
for August 7 - 11, 2006 in La Parguera, Puerto Rico (see below) was 
found to be popular, but also at financial odds with the managers, 
mainly due to other meetings held for them in a similar time frame when 
only one or two meetings might be affordable in one year. Thus, we have 
worked closely with the organizers of the 59th annual Gulf and Caribbean 
Fisheries Institute conference, and will make our presentation and seek 
input from the managers at that meeting, to be held from 6 Nov 2006 
through 11 November 2006 in Belize City, Belize. We will give a 
presentation, have a special booth to show all the new features 
highlighted in the originally circulated message, and work closely with 
other presenters in the Caribbean Connectivity portion of the meeting, 
to underscore our goal of providing near real-time integrated data for 
MPA decision support. Please visit this URL for information on 
registering for the conference:

http://www.gcfi.org/Conferences/59th/Belize59.htm

I apologize to those of you who went through the effort of 
registering for the La Parguera meeting. I still hope that we will get 
a chance to meet with you in the near future and discuss ways in which 
the Integrated Coral Observing Network (ICON) stations and online 
software might work for you in MPA decision support. Please drop me a 
line if you wish to know more.

Sincerely yours,
Jim Hendee

----------------------------------------------------
James C. Hendee, Ph.D.
Coral Health and Monitoring Program
Ocean Chemistry Division
Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
U.S. Department of Commerce
4301 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, FL 33149-1026

Voice: (305) 361-4396
Fax: (305) 361-4447
Email: jim.hendee at noaa.gov
Web: http://www.coral.noaa.gov

--- In campam at yahoogroups.com, "Jim Hendee" wrote:

Greetings!

This message is an invitation to Caribbean MPA managers to meet with 
selected data suppliers and information systems engineers to help design 
a next generation Web-based tool to aid in management and research, 
based on the integration of near real-time and other data. The meeting 
will be held at La Parguera, Puerto Rico, August 7-11, 2006, at the 
Parador Villa Parguera near Phosphorescent Bay. 

NOAA has committed to integrating ocean data from a variety of sources 
under a project called the Integrated Ocean Observing System. NOAA's 
Coral Reef Conservation Program has also committed to integrating coral 
data from a variety of sources for the benefit of coral reef researchers 
and Marine Protected Area (MPA) managers, especially under the aegis of 
the Coral Reef Ecosystem Integrated Observing System program. NOAA 
Research and the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory 
(AOML) are participating in this venture by providing Web-based software 
to integrate various near real-time data sources, and by providing an 
inference engine (artificial intelligence tool) to provide ecosystem 
forecasts for MPA decision support under a program called the Integrated 
Coral Observing Network (ICON).

~~ What We Hope To Accomplish ~~

We hope to eventually be able to provide decision support for selected 
questions an MPA manager might have, such as:

* Is increased weekend user activity negatively affecting water
quality (turbidity, chlorophyll, nitrogen, wind/waves, for example)?
* Can I detect a pollution event?
* If there is an oil spill, can it be detected automatically and
what direction will it travel?
* When will selected fish/corals spawn (and where will they go)?
* When will selected fish/invertebrates migrate?
* Can I detect large ship intrusion into my MPA in time to stop a
disaster on the reefs?
* Can I detect large rainfall events, and how will these affect
local run-off into my MPA?
* How can I detect large-scale change in my reef systems?
* When are conditions conducive to coral disease and/or bleaching?
* When are conditions conducive to increased algal growth?
* Can I detect significant harmful algal blooms in time to prevent
fishing contaminated species?
* Can I detect unauthorized access into my MPA?
* How can I broadcast underwater live events (such as coral spawning
or bleaching) and other outreach events to the public?
* How can I see trends in environmental parameters through time, and
can I receive notice when things change?

After the meeting, a document will be prepared which summarizes the 
Caribbean MPA Managers' requirements for data and research support, as 
well as questions such as these. This document will be used to guide the 
ICON team and colleagues in developing the software, but also in 
providing guidance to other software developers and researchers of all 
relevant disciplines.

~~ Attendance and Support ~~

Through NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program, and the Caribbean Coral 
Reef Institute, funds are being provided to support rooms for about 20 
managers or their designates; however, there will be room for about 80 
additional attendees in the conference hall. All attendees must provide 
their own air fare.

The priority on selecting attendees will be for managers from as many 
representative Caribbean MPAs as possible; however, a few special guests 
who are data suppliers will also be in attendance. The selection of 
attendees will be made by the Program Managers and will be based mainly 
on location and who first registered; however, you will have a chance to 
apply for attendance based on special considerations. 

A Web Page describing more about the project, as well as details and the 
form for registering can be found at:

http://www.coral.noaa.gov/mpa/retreat/

All 20 officially invited attendees will be asked to give a 20 minute 
presentation describing their coral reef MPA, but concentrating 
especially on what their data, research and socioeconomic needs are. It 
doesn't matter if particular data streams are currently available or 
not: part of the purpose of the meeting is to determine which research 
data sources need to be gained for effective management. In turn, the 
ICON team will meet with the invitees as necessary for follow-up on how 
we can help.

The period for selection of the representative attendees will closed May 
1, 2006. An announcement will be made shortly thereafter as to the 
supported and non-supported attendees. Non-supported attendees may 
continue to apply so long as the 100 slots are not filled.

~~ The New La Parguera Marine Reserve ICON/CREWS Station ~~

The La Parguera Marine Reserve is the site of the latest CREWS station, 
which is a data supplier to the ICON program. The University of Puerto 
Rico's Department of Marine Science at the Magueyes Island Marine 
Laboratory, and the Caribbean Coral Reef Institute (CCRI), are 
collaborating with AOML to maintain and operate this station. We 
anticipate being able to provide some support for attendees to visit the 
station and the laboratory. Here are some links for more information:

* http://www.coral.noaa.gov/crw/crw_data_lppr1_Web_12.html (CREWS
Data Report)
* http://lppr1-log.blogspot.com/ (temporary station maintenance page)
* http://www.coral.noaa.gov/noaa/icon/crews-install.pdf (CREWS
station installation description)
* http://cima.uprm.edu/magueyes.html (Magueyes Island Marine Laboratory)
* 
http://www.cop.noaa.gov/ecosystems/coralreefs/current/ccri-factsheet-cr.html
(Caribbean Coral Reef Institute)

Thank you for your attention and support!

Sincerely yours,
The Program Managers
Jim Hendee, NOAA/AOML
Richard Appledoorn, UPRM/CCRI
Brian Keller, FKNMS

--- End forwarded message ---

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